Channel-laying machine.



' No. 737,617. PATENTED SEPT. 1, 1903."

M. T. HARRIGAN.

CHANNEL LAYING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 13, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

anaemia.

Patented September 1, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

MICHAEL T. HARRIGAN, OF YVOLLASTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO PEERLESS MACHINERY COMPANY OF CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA;

NEW YORK, N. Y., AND BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CHANNEL-LAYING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 737,617, dated September 1, 1903.

Application filed September 13, 1902. Serial No. 123,281. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, MICHAEL T. HARRIGAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Wollaston, county of Norfolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Channel-Laying Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like numerals on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object the production of a novel machine for laying or smoothing down the channel-flaps of a sole to cover the stitches or fastenings of whatever character which are used to unite the sole to the upper in the process of making the shoe.

The invention comprises a flexible rotating channel-flap-laying member having right and left spirals thereon and manually-operated means to control the degree of flexure of said member, whereby the active portion of the face of said member may be made to accommodate itself to any contour of the sole.

In the best form of myinvention now known to me the channel-flap-laying member is a two-part member, which is carried bya suitable non-rotating supporting member, about which said laying member is capable of being rotated. The two rotative parts of the laying member are flexibly connected together and preferably occupy normally a position substantially in alinement. Each part of the laying member has spiral ribs thereon, the ribs on one member being right-hand and those on the other member left-hand. The supporting member, about which the member rotates, is shown as a cylindrical pivotrod extending through the axis of the channel-flap-laying member and jointed intermediate its ends and at a point coinciding with the flexible connection between the two parts of said laying member. Suitable manuallyoperated means are provided for bending the supporting member or pivot-rod at its joint that the laying member may be made to conform to the convexity of the sole. Means are provided for positively rotating about the supporting member the laying member, the flexible connection between the two parts of the laying member permitting of the rotation thereof at any position of the pivot-rod. This construction permits of giving the portion of the face of the rotary laying member which is contacting with the sole either a straight shape or more or less of a convex shape, according to the contour of the sole being operated upon.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of my improved machine in one of the best forms now known to me, the dotted lines showing a part of a shoe in a position to be operated upon. Fig. 2 is a View of a portion of my machine, showing the channel-fiap-laying member in a different position; and Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the rotary channel-flap-laying member. The machine comprises a suitable base or standard 3, on which is mounted a head 4 of a shape to carry the operative parts of the machine, said head in this embodiment of my invention being shown as an overhanging arm.

The channel-flap-laying member or smoothing member is a flexible member and comprises two parts 5 and 5, which have on their periphery the spiral smoothing or flap-laying ribs 6, the ribs on the part 5 being right-hand spirals and those on the part 5 being lefthand spirals. The two parts of the laying member are flexibly connected together in some suitable way, so as to permit the member to rotate even though the two parts have an angular relation to each other, and in Figs. 1 to 3 I have shown the flexible connection in the form of a universal joint. The particular universal joint shown comprises a ring 7,

to which the members 5 5 are pivoted at right angles to each other. The member 5 has ears or lugs 8, carrying pivot-points 9, which e11- gage suitable sockets in the ring 7, and the member 5 also has oppositely-disposed lugs 8, carrying similar pivot-points 9, which also have pivotal hearings in the ring, the lugs 8 being situated at right angles to the lugs 8. The two-part laying memberis mounted upon a suitable non-rotatable supporting member, shown as a pivot-rod or shaft, and said laying memberis capable of rotating thereabout.

The pivot-rod, which is designated by 10, has a joint 11 intermediate its ends and situated at the center of motion of the universal joint. The said rod 10 is pivoted at one end to the frame, as at 18, while the other end is pivotally connected to the link 14, which in turn is pivoted to the end of the arm 4, as at 15. This construction allows the rod either to assume a straight position or a position in alinement, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3, or permils it to be bent upwardly at its joint, as shown in Fig. 2. The rod is hereinillustrated as having collars 16 thereon, between which the two parts of the channel-laying member are confined and by which they are prevented from movement longitudinally of the rod. Any suitable means may be employed for rorating the flap-laying member, and, as herein illustrated, a drivingpulley 20 is made fast to one part of said member.

It will now be seen that when the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1 the surfaces of the two parts of the flap-laying member are in alinement with each other and form, in effect, a straight cylindrical surface having right and left spiral ribs thereon. When the pulley is rotated in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 1,'the ribs 6 will act gradually from the central part of the sole to the outer edge thereof and will meet the channel-flap and turn the same overinto its original position to cover the channel and conceal the fastenings which unite the sole to the upper. It sometimes happens that the sole is more or less rounding, and by jointing the rod and constructing the rotary laying member in two parts flexibly united said laying member may be made to assume the position shown in Fig.

'2 or any other flexed position, according to the contour of the sole.

I have herein provided means for manually controlling the degree to which the rotating member may be flexed, and in one form of my invention the rod or shaft 10 will be projected beyond the pivot 13, as at 23, and said end connected by the link 24: to the treadle 25. A suitable spring 26 serves to normally maintain the rod in a straight-line position, and suitable stops 27 and 28 prevent the rod from being bent except upwardly at the center.

In using the device the operator places his foot upon the treadle 25 and by depressing the same more or less controls the degree to which the rod 10 is bent, and thereby adapts the under side of the laying member to the contour of the sole.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention herein represented both parts of the flaplaying member are shown as being driven by a single pulley 20 on one of said parts, and when this construction is employed it is necessary, of course, that the two parts 5 and 5 should be flexibly connected together in such a way that they are locked together for rotary movement, but can assume any angular position relative to each other. My invention is not limited, however, to the particular means shown for driving the laying member nor for flexibly connecting the two parts of the lying member. My invention is broad enough to include any means for driving said member positively and forflexibly connecting the parts thereof that they may rotate in unison.

From the above it will be obvious that various changes may be made in the construction of the apparatus shown without departing in any way from my invention, and consequently I reserve to myself the right to make any and all such changes as come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

1. In a device for laying'channeLflaps, a flexible rotary laying member having right and left spirals, a jointed, non-rotatable rod carrying said member, and manually-operated means to flex said rod and laying member and cause the active portion of said laying member to conform to the contour of the sole being operated upon.

2. In a device of the class described, a twopart rotary laying member jointed together at their contiguous ends and provided with right and left spiral ribs, and means to suetain and to rotate said laying members.

In a device of the class described, a pivotrod jointed intermediate its ends, a two-part rotary laying member supported by said rod and rotatable thereabout, the two parts of said laying member being flexibly connected together, and means to rotate said laying member.

4. In a device of the class described, a jointed pivot-rod having a pivotal connection at each end with a fixed support, a two-part channel-flap-laying member rotatable about said rod, the parts of said member being flexibly connected together, and means to rotate said member.

5. In a device of the class described, a pivotrod jointed intermediate its ends, a two-part laying member supported by said rod and r0- tatable thereabout, the two parts of said member being connected together by a universal joint, means to rotate said member, and manually-operated means to flex said rod.

6. In a device of the class described, a jointed pivot-rod having a pivotal connection at each end with a fixed support, a two-part channel-flap-laying member rotatable about said rod, the parts of said member being connected together by a universal joint, means to rotate said member, and manually-operated means to flex said rod.

7. In a device of the class described, a twopart jointed non-rotatable supporting member normally in alinement one with the other, a two-part channel-fiap-laying member having a central flexible connection to permit said two parts to rotate in unison about said supporting member, and enable one part to assume an angular abnormal position inclined with relation to the other part of said laying member that the latter may conform to the convexity of the sole, and means to rotate said laying member positively about said supporting member.

8. In a device of the class described, a shaft, a two-part channel-flap-laying member having a central flexible connection, one having a right and the other a left spiral projection, a pulley connected with one of said members, and adapted to receive a belt by which to rotate said two-part member about said shaft.

9. In a device of the class described, a twopart channel-flap-laying member, a support on which the said laying member is revolubly mounted, and means to rotate said laying name to this specification in the presence of 25 two subscribing witnesses.

MICHAEL T. HARRIGAN. Witnesses:

GEO. W. GREGORY, LOUIS CARTER SMITH. 

